Avraham Burg

MKs

Date of birth = January 19, 1955
Place of birth = Jerusalem, Israel
Year of Aliyah =
Date of death =
Place of death =
Knesset(s) = 12th, 13th, 15th, 16th,
Party = Labor
Former parties = Alignment, One Israel
Gov't roles =

Avraham "Avrum" Burg ( _he. אברהם בורג, born January 19, 1955) was an Israeli Knesset member, former Chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel and former Speaker of the Knesset.

Biography

Burg was born and raised in Jerusalem's Rehavia neighborhood. His father was Yosef Burg, a German-born Israeli politician and long-time government minister for the National Religious Party. His mother, Rivka (nee Slonim), was born in Hebron and survived the Arab massacre in 1929. [ [http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/37171.aspx 'The Forsaken Promise'] ] In the Israel Defense Forces, Burg served as a lieutenant in the paratroopers brigade. He graduated from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem with a degree in the social sciences.

Burg is married to Yael and lives in Nataf, a rural community on the outskirts of Jerusalem. Burg and his wife have six children. [ [http://www.wzo.org.il/doingzionism/resources/expand_author.asp?id=23 Resources and Articles by Avraham Burg ] ]

Political career

Burg was an activist in left-wing organizations and the Peace Now movement. He was injured in the grenade attack on a Peace Now demonstration in Jerusalem in February 1983, which killed Emil Grunzweig. [ [http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/MFAArchive/2000_2009/2003/2/Avraham%20Burg Avraham Burg, MK] Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 26 February 2003] In 1985, he served as advisor on Diaspora affairs to Prime Minister Shimon Peres. In 1988, he was elected to the Knesset as a member of the Alignment.

In 1992, when the Alignment merged with the Labor Party, he was reelected to Knesset. In 1995, he was appointed Chairman of the Jewish Agency and the World Zionist Organization, and resigned from the Knesset. As head of the Jewish Agency, he worked to recover Jewish property lost during the Holocaust.

In 1999, Burg returned to domestic politics, and was elected to the Knesset on Ehud Barak's One Israel list (an alliance of Labor, Meimad and Gesher). Burg was elected Speaker of the Knesset, a position he held until early 2003. In his capacity as speaker of the Knesset he served as interim President of Israel for 20 days, from 12 July until 1 August 2000 when the presidency was vacant following Ezer Weizman's resignation. Following Barak's defeat in the 2001 election for Prime Minister and his subsequent resignation, Burg ran for the Labor Party leadership, but lost. Nevertheless, he retained his seat in the Knesset in the 2003 elections.

In October 2003, Burg caused a sensation when he published an article in the British newspaper "The Guardian" named 'The end of Zionism' calling for a quick withdrawal from the Palestinian Territories. [ [http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/comment/0,10551,1042071,00.html The end of Zionism] The Guardian, 15 September 2003]

Also in 2003, Burg published an article in "Yedioth Ahronoth" in which he declared, "Israel, having ceased to care about the children of the Palestinians, should not be surprised when they come washed in hatred and blow themselves up in the centers of Israeli escapism." [ [http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/07/30/070730fa_fact_remnick Letters from Jerusalem: The Apostate] "The New Yorker", 30 July 2007]

Retirement from political life

In 2004, he resigned from the Knesset and public life. Since then, he has appeared as a lecturer at international events and pursued private business interests.

In an interview in "Haaretz" in June 2007, Burg suggested amending the Law of Return and stated that "to define the State of Israel as a Jewish state is the key to its end. A Jewish state is explosive. It's dynamite." [ [http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/868215.html Burg: Defining Israel as a Jewish state is the key to its end] "Haaretz", 7 June 2007] In response to public criticism of the interview, however, he published a retraction, recommending that Israel be defined not as a "Jewish State" but as a "State of the Jews." [ [http://cafe.themarker.com/view.php?t=63283 Another way of understanding my book] Avraham Burg's blog on TheMarker]

In April 2008, Burg signed a letter of support for the recently created J Street American pro-peace lobby group.cite news
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/richard_silverstein/2008/04/new_kid_on_the_block.html
title= New Kid on the Block
publisher= "Guardian"
date=2008-04-15
accessdate=2008-04-30]

Avraham Burg lives in Nataf, a hillside community on the outskirts of Jerusalem.

Published works

* "Brit Am: A Covenant of the People", Proposed Policy Guidelines for the National Institutions of the Jewish People, June 1995, Jewish Agency for Israel
*"Defeating Hitler" (2007) (Hebrew)
*"God is Back" (2006) (Hebrew) [http://www.agenciariff.com.br/clientes/catalogos/Deborah%20Harris%20Agency/Deborah%20Harris,%20Autumn%202007%20Catalogue%20Final.doc]

References

External links

* [http://www.knesset.gov.il/mk/eng/mk_eng.asp?ID=137 Avraham Burg on the Knesset website (in English)]
* [http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/868385.html 'Leaving the Zionist ghetto' by Ari Shavit] Haaretz interview, 24 June 2007